Electronic Arts pull yet another round of layoffs, 350 lose jobs

We must admit, 2019 seems to be a horrible year to be a game developer as the almost constant streak of layoffs never seems to end. This time it's EA's turn, again, and the company's CEO Andrew Wilson says that around 350 will be affected.

The news came from Wilson himself, as he posted the announcement on EA's website, where he said that the layoffs were a painful but necessary step.

"We're making deliberate moves to better deliver on our commitments, refine our organization and meet the needs of our players", he said, before announcing what the cuts are.

It turns out that EA's offices in Russia and Japan are being terminated, as the company will look for other ways to maintain their presence and serve players in those markets.

Wilson also said, "Great games will continue to be at the core of everything we do, and we are thinking differently about how to amaze and inspire our players."

At this point, we'd probably be amazed if they stopped laying off people, as this was not the first time EA has had to make cuts in 2019.

In case you don't recall, EA's Australian
studio, who were mostly in charge of mobile game development, has recently been downsized. Initially thought to be half of the studio, the number turned out to be 40 to 50, i.e. 25 per cent of the studio.

Wilson stressed that this is a difficult day, as laying off 350 out of EA's 9,000 employees is not a decision easily made.

"We are friends and colleagues at EA, we appreciate and value everyone’s contributions, and we are doing everything we can to ensure we are looking after our people to help them through this period to find their next opportunity. This is our top priority", Wilson concluded.

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While we're certain that there are certain financial realities that one is only aware of when leading a company, surely there can be a middle line between profit and workers? And we can't help but wonder what sort of an employment prospect are we turning game development into?